One More Body
by Tosie
Summary: My first ever fanfic! AU, takes place directly after the book, excluding "Sam and Sandra Hollis" visiting Sally Jupiter. I'm kinda just continuing the story, focusing on Dan dealing with Rory being gone. If he is really gone... dun dun DUN! Dan/Laurie, but more as friends or partners. Can be read as Dan/Rorschach if you like. Rated T to be safe. Please review, criticism is welcome!
1. Nothing Ever Ends

**Note: This is my first fanfic, EVER! Please review, all critiques welcomed!**

Laurie sighs deeply and slowly blinks open her eyes. At first, the surroundings are unfamiliar-a high ceiling, with columns and a swimming pool. But then she sees an Egyptian statue in the corner and everything falls quietly back into place. For a moment, all she wants is to curl up against Dan and hide from the world just a little bit longer.

_But what about Jon?_

Laurie sits up and reaches to retrieve the various pieces of her clothing that lie scattered around her. As she slips the silky costume on, she turns to regard Dan's sleeping form. He looks happy. Blissful and utterly unaware of the world that came crashing down barely an hour ago.

_May as well let him stay that way while he can._

So, now fully clothed, she kneels and carefully tucks the cape of his costume over his slumbering bulk until he is safely wrapped in a soft cocoon. Then Laurie turns to find Jon.

* * *

It's a few minutes before Laurie locates anyone. Veidt is meditating on a pedestal before a globe filled with rotating planets. He doesn't look up, or even seem to realize she's there. She debates with herself for a moment before opening her mouth to speak-

"Jon left."

"D'you kn- I'm sorry, what?" Laurie falters, walking around to face Veidt. He opens his eyes, slowly.

"Jon left," he repeats, snapping his eyes shut. "I don't think he'll be back."

Laurie's mouth opens and closes.

_Left? He's _gone_? Without even- without..._

She turns abruptly to walk out the door.

* * *

After she leaves, Adrian's shoulders sag slightly and his eyes drift back open. "Nothing ever ends..." he murmurs thoughtfully, and a little forlornly, as he reaches down to scratch someone who isn't there.

* * *

Laurie struggles to light her cigarette while the antarctic winds whip snow into her face. It catches on the fourth or fifth try and she leans against the wall.

She should have known he wouldn't stick around. Of course he wouldn't. And it shouldn't even _matter_ now that she's got Dan, but for some reason it _does_ and she's really, really trying not to cry.

Laurie doesn't notice the mask lying in the snow until the tears have frozen on her cheeks and she's turning to go back inside.


	2. The Mask in the Snow

_Shit._

Laurie's cigarette slips from her hand as she notices for the first time the faint crimson splotch visible on the ground a few feet away, already dusted over with snow.

_Rorschach._

The wheels turn in her mind and thoughts come gushing in all at once.

_after he left-_

_he wanted to-_

_Jon disapp-_

_he was going to tell-_

_and Jon disappeared-_

_Jon wouldn't have-_

_would never have let him-_

_Shit._

Laurie kneels to pick up the mask, cold latex sliding between her fingers. The inkblots shift sluggishly, barely moving at all. With a small amount of surprise, and a slight stab of alarm, Laurie feels her heart wrench at the sight. This discarded skin of a man she both feared and abhorred seems somehow so strikingly pathetic now, a limp, flimsy disguise to shelter a broken man. Then Laurie feels her blood run cold, and sucks in a breath.

What the _hell_ is she going to tell Dan?

* * *

Dan slides easily into wakefulness, the transition from unconsciousness gradual and gentle. One moment he is asleep, the next he is simply not. He becomes aware of his surroundings, and finds them exquisitely pleasing. The soft Snowy Owl cape wrapped around him; the gentle lap of the swimming pool; the slight musky smell of sweat, and Nostalgia.

There is, however, one thing his surroundings fail to produce.

Dan sits up, feeling a sense of vague disappointment that Laurie isn't with him. He lies back down and decides not to think about it, instead choosing to bask in the generally peaceful atmosphere that surrounds him. Despite everything that has happened in the past day- and god, the things that have happened- he feels strangely powerful, ready to brave this new world, meet it, tame it, shape it to his liking and find his place within it.

With Laurie by his side.

And Rorschach, of course.

Dan yawns idly, wondering if Jon had persuaded his stubborn partner (yes, he still thinks of him that way, even after so many years) yet, or if they were still arguing. He assumes they are- knowing Rorschach, he is probably in the middle of saying he would rather _die_ than compromise his morals. Oh, well. He would come around in the end; he'd have to.

* * *

Tears have left identical tracks of Laurie's mascara on each of her cheeks.

She stands in the doorway of the huge room, biting her lip and silently lamenting the grief she is about to cause. There is simply no way, no way to go about this that wouldn't break his heart. She agonizes internally for another moment before stepping onto the tiled floor, the mask held quietly forward.

The mascara is dry on her face now.

Laurie hesitantly opens her mouth to speak, and Dan's questioning eyes turn toward her.

She can see the moment his world shatters.


	3. Even in the Face of Armageddon

Dan sees the mask, but his brain refuses to acknowledge it for the first few seconds, and he's just staring at Laurie's face. The black-stained tear tracks on either cheek mirror another visage, one he knows well. One that is dangling limply from an outstretched hand. The realization hits like a punch to the gut. He doubles over suddenly, clutching his stomach and retching as silent, choking sobs wrack his body.

_Gone._

* * *

Laurie's face softens and she moves quickly to catch Dan, to embrace him and comfort him and reassure him. His arms latch onto her and he's still heaving, almost convulsing, as if the grief is physically pulling him apart. Laurie just holds him.

Dan senses warmth and reaches out instinctively to grasp it, to anchor himself somehow in this whirling, twisting reality. He dimly hears Laurie talking, but his mind is screaming and he can barely hear.

"...was going to ... know Jon wouldn't let ... tell everyone..."

And Dan hates this world, hates the cruelty and the injustice of it all. He hates Jon, for doing his duty; hates Laurie, for telling him; hates Adrian, for the goddamn squid; he hates himself, for not thinking to follow; but most of all, he hates _Rorschach_, for being so goddamn _stubborn_ that he couldn't waver for one goddamned _second_ even in the face of-

_But would he be _him _if he could?_

Then Dan is truly crying; warm, wet tears flow freely and his breath comes in shaky gasps.

* * *

Laurie closes her eyes and plants a kiss on Dan's head, unruly strands of chocolate hair tickling her face. He's clutching her tight, with his body splayed uncomfortably against hers, and Laurie's legs are starting to go numb. Dan doesn't seem to notice, and so she encourages him with all the patience and tenderness of a mother. Right now, there are things more important than physical comfort.

Dan's sobs ease away into deep, wavering breaths that echo slightly in the large space. After a few minutes, he speaks, voice quiet but firm, sounding almost like a challenge.

"He was a good man."

Laurie nods against Dan's head. "I know."

"No." Dan sits up and leans away, meeting her gaze directly. "You don't. You hated him, you've never liked him, even when we were springing him from prison- you've never _understood_ him..." He trails off from the sudden outburst, a look of utter loneliness becoming apparent on his face. "No one ever understood him, not even me." Dan stares at the ground for a moment before standing abruptly and beginning to pick up the pieces of his costume.

Laurie gapes silently, wanting to reassure but unable to deny her lack of affection, bordering on despisement, for Rorschach. "I... I mean, we always had differing opinions, I guess, and you have to admit his methods were a little... you know. But-"

And suddenly Dan is gripping her shoulders and shaking her, practically shouting. "You don't _understand_, Laurie- all those years of knowing but not _knowing_ him, and suddenly he reaches out to me, like he wants- like he- like he needs- shit, I don't know! But something had _changed_, Laurie, something was different, like he was almost ready to accept me as a real _friend_, for god's sake!" Dan is panting now, red faced and sweaty, and Laurie feels pity and fear in equal measures. "And I thought now we'd have time, I could get to know him, help him out of this mess... and he's gone and I still don't fucking know who he _was_. Do you know how that _feels_, Laurie?"

Carefully she picks his hands up off her shoulders and clutches them tightly. They feel huge, skin calloused but soft against her own. Laurie smiles, small and sad. "_Yes_, Dan. Yes, I do. In a way, we're in the same boat, you and I, because Jon is gone too. And I know that I will never really be able to comprehend him, or his life." Dan is squeezing her hands, and Laurie can see the beginning of something dawning in his glistening eyes. "I never would have been able to understand him. You had hoped you might be given the chance. You weren't and I know it isn't fair, but you'll be okay-_we'll_ be okay- and you can treasure his memory."

"Never compromise..." Dan whispers. "He-" he swallows, looking down at the costume in his hands. "Rorschach would have wanted me to continue. To keep putting on the mask. Even in the face of... this."

With that, he slips the cowl firmly into place.


	4. In Memory

They bid their goodbyes to Veidt, Dan with undisguised hostility in his gaze.

"You haven't gotten away with this, Adrian," he mutters sharply as he's turning away.

Veidt narrows his eyes slightly, but gives no other indication that he heard the comment.

Laurie manages to keep herself civil by merely giving a curt nod in his direction before steering Dan towards the door.

* * *

She curses silently when she sees the red-stained snow, glancing uncertainly at Dan to gauge his reaction. _Dammit, I should have taken him out a different door._

But Dan only stops briefly to gaze at the pinkish spot on the ground, then walks carefully around it to pick up Rorschach's fedora. He turns it over in his hands for a moment before turning back to Laurie. His expression is hard, and he walks stiffly towards Archie.

He doesn't seem to question how the newly repaired owlship has materialized there.

Laurie thinks she knows what happened.

* * *

Dan opens the door and steps into Archie, taking care to scrape the snow off his boots first. He hears Laurie following quietly. The polished cleanliness of the interior doesn't even register as he sits down in the pilot chair.

Placing the hat almost reverently on an empty patch of the control panel, Dan begins flipping switches to get Archie moving into the air. He sees Laurie out of the corner of his eye, folding the mask and gently tucking it under the fedora. She pivots hesitantly to face him, and Dan closes his eyes in anticipation of the questions to come.

"I- I don't know what to..." she trails off, and Dan opens his eyes to meet her gaze. "Are you okay, Dan?" Laurie continues more strongly. "Are you going to be okay?"

Dan feels his face twist into a reassuring smile that doesn't begin to echo the emotions he's experiencing. "I'll be fine, Laurie. Don't worry about me."

He _wouldn't have._

"I want to take up the masks again. For real."

_Because that's what _he _would have wanted._

"The world still needs us." Dan is trying to put enthusiasm into his words, infuse them with all the passion he isn't feeling.

_We have to continue, have to try and make this world- this _hell_- into the purest, most just hell it can be. For him. In memory- in _honor_- of him._

_Because that's what _he _would have _done_._

**Terribly sorry about the lack of updates- school just started, so things are a little busy! I hope to get something up sometime soon...ish.**


End file.
